After back-to-back defeats over the past week, AC Milan must respond when they host Sampdoria at the San Siro on Sunday evening.
Gennaro Gattuso saw his side slip to a disappointing loss in the Derby della Madonnina last weekend, before watching on as they were outclassed by Real Betis in the Europa League in midweek.
In turn, with both the performances and results in mind, the pressure has been piled on the Milan coach to produce a positive response this weekend as they look to avoid slipping further adrift of their rivals in the race to land a top-four finish in Serie A this season.
With that in mind, the Italian tactician is being tipped to make a fundamental change to his line-up by scrapping his preferred 4-3-3 system and going with a 4-4-2 instead, as seen in the tweet below with touted line-ups provided by La Gazzetta dello Sport and Sportmediaset respectively.
Should that be the case, it would see Gonzalo Higuain and Patrick Cutrone played up front together, with both strikers scoring goals when featuring so far this season and linking up well when Gattuso has adopted a more attacking approach in the latter stages of encounters.
As a result, it will be intriguing to see if the decision pays off over 90 minutes, but particularly with Cutrone’s form in mind so far this season, scoring four goals in eight games, it was undoubtedly becoming increasingly difficult for Gattuso to ignore him.
However, there is less positive news as GdS note that both Franck Kessie and Hakan Calhanoglu are both struggling with injuries and so it remains to be seen if either get the green light to feature as they’ll face late fitness tests.
That aside, it’s largely as you were for Milan, albeit stalwart Ignazio Abate could get the nod at right-back while the injuries mentioned above could see Giacomo Bonaventura and Diego Laxalt start in midfield.
Couple of touted line-ups, but both suggesting a 4-4-2 tomorrow.
Kessie/Calhanoglu carrying injuries. Calabria, Caldara over Abate, Musacchio and we’re good. Thoughts? #ForzaMilan #MilanSampdoria pic.twitter.com/erCIrg3uz4
— Milan Talk (@MilanTalk1) October 27, 2018